News: Federal Government Begins Recruitment of 500,000 Teachers

The federal government will start taking online applications for positions in the 500,000 direct teaching jobs scheme, the presidency has revealed.

According to the presidency, applications are expected to start coming in on June 12, the beginning of next week. Young unemployed Nigerians are advised to visit the website and apply.

President Muhammadu Buhari had, in his Democracy Day broadcast to the nation on May 29, formally launched the unprecedented social investment programmes already provided for by the administration in the 2016 budget.

Senior special assistant to the vice president, Laolu Akande, said the 500,000 teacher corps, nicknamed N-Power Teach on the portal, is one of the three direct job creation and training schemes Nigerians can start applying for from Sunday, June 12.

Others are N-Power Knowledge which will train 25,000 Nigerians in the area of technology, and N-Power Build, which will train another 75,000 in the areas of building services, construction, utilities, hospitality and catering, automotive vocations, aluminium and gas services.

“All trainees would be paid for the duration of their training. The N-Power Teacher Corps initiative, which will engage and train 500,000 young unemployed graduates, is a paid volunteer programme of two-year duration. Unemployed Nigerians selected and trained will play teaching, instructional, and advisory roles in primary and secondary schools, agricultural extension systems across the country, public health and community education, covering civic and adult education.

“Besides their monthly take home pay estimated at about N23,000, the selected 500,000 graduates will also get computer devices that will contain information necessary for their specific engagement, as well as information for their continuous training and development. They will keep the devices even after exiting from the programme,” he said.

According to the plan of the Buhari administration, the N-Power Teacher Corps programme is an invaluable opportunity for young Nigerians to make immense economic and social contributions to the nation while developing their skills. It will also help to address the problems of shortage of teachers in public schools.

Also, persons enlisted under the scheme will gain work experience and acquire key competencies through academic and non-academic capacity building programmes intended to improve their competitiveness in the workplace.

LEADERSHIP learnt that the other schemes in the Buhari administration’s social investment programmes, which would soon be rolled out in the coming weeks, include the Conditional Cash Transfer that pays N5000 monthly to one million Nigerians; the Micro-Credit Scheme for more than 1.5 million Nigerians, the Home Grown School Feeding programme that will serve 5.5 million Nigerian pupils in primary school a free hot meal per day this year and the education support grant programme for 100,000 tertiary students in science, technology engineering mathematics and education.

School feeding programme for launch
The presidency has said that Nigeria’s first national Home Grown School Feeding programme which would affect about 5.5million Nigerians in the first year of its operation would be rolling out soon in several states.

Senior special assistant to Yemi Osinbajo, Laolu Akande, stated that, in the final rounds of preparation for the commencement of the free school feeding programme for primary school pupils, the federal and state governments would review the strategic plan for the rollout of the scheme which is part of the N500bn social investment plans of the Buhari presidency.

He said, “The strategic plans runs until 2020 and forms the cornerstone of the nationwide Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) programme which, when fully realised, will provide a nutritious hot meal a day to over 24 million primary school children.

“HGSF programme provides free school meals procured from local farmers. These programmes offer a ‘win-win-win’ for children, farmers and communities alike.

“Children benefit from hot nutritionally balanced school meals which reduce hunger and improve education outcomes;  farmers benefit from improved access to school feeding markets, and communities benefit from new catering, processing and food handling jobs.

According to acting president Yemi Osinbajo, “not only will the Home Grown School Feeding programme help our pupils become better students; it will also boost the local economies, and create new jobs along the way.”

“To achieve national coverage, the federal government is working in partnership with states and local communities for the successful implementation of the HGSF programme.”

Equally to support the process, the federal government is working with key technical partners to capitalize upon global experience and adopt best practices. One such partner is UK Imperial College’s London Partnership for Child Development (PCD) which is providing technical assistance to the Presidency.

The forum will have in attendance governors of Borno, Oyo, Osun, Enugu and Kaduna, and other government representatives and stakeholders from all 36 Nigerian States as well as developmental partners.

The forum, which is also an advocacy event, will provide the opportunity for state teams and their partners to model their school feeding plans within the national HGSF framework.

Besides the strategic plan, the acting president will also launch the ‘Global School Feeding Sourcebook: Lessons from 14 Countries’, the World Bank and World Food Programme’s analysis of national school feeding programmes from across the globe.

Source: Leadership